Minuscule 892

Minuscule 892
New Testament manuscript
TextGospels †
Date9th century
ScriptGreek
Found1887
Now atBritish Library
CiteJ. R. Harris, "An Important MS of the New Testament", JBL, IX (1890), pp. 31-59
Size23.5 cm by 11.5 cm
TypeAlexandrian text-type
CategoryII

Minuscule 892 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), ε 1016 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament Gospels, written on parchment. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been dated to the 9th century.[1][2]

Description

The manuscript is a codex (precursor to the modern book), containing an almost complete text of the four Gospels written on 353 parchment leaves (23.5 cm by 11.5 cm),[3] with some missing portions. The text of John 10:6-12:18 and 14:23-end were inserted by later hand on paper, from likely about the 16th century.[4][5] The text is written in one column per page, with 20 lines per page, in minuscule letters.[1][3][5] Square breathing marks are used throughout.[3] It contains the tables of contents (known as κεφαλαια / kephalaia) at the beginning of each Gospel,[5] along with beginning (αρχη / arche) and ending (τελος / telos) markings for the end of liturgical sections.[5] Subscriptions are included at the end of each Gospel.[5]

It includes the text of the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11 - though with variants from the majority of manuscripts),[5] Matthew 16:2b–3, Luke 22:43–44 (though this is surrounded by marks in the margin which could imply doubts as to authenticity),[5] 23:34, and Mark 16:9-20.[5] The Eusebian numbers in Mark however do not go past Mark 16:8.[5] All these text sections are not contained in an array of varying Greek, and other language, manuscripts. In this manuscript, interpolation of the Alexandrian text-type can be seen in Matthew 27:49.[6]

Words in this codex are written continuously without separation. Biblical scholar Hermann von Soden observed that the manuscript preserved the division in pages and lines of its uncial parent.[7][3][5] The copyist appears to leave lower parts of pages blank so as to begin the next section, therefore harmonising with the uncial parent.[3][5] The Ammonian sections and the Eusebian Canons (both early divisions of the Gospel text into sections for easy navigation) were given in the left-hand margin.[3][5]

Synaxarion and Menologion were added in the 13th century. John 10:6-12:18; 14:24-21:25 was added by a later hand in the 16th century.[4] The manuscript has been corrected many times, either by erasurs or marginal notations, which appear to have been done by the initial copyist and another corrector.[5]

Biblical scholar J. Rendel Harris remarked that he did not "ever remember to have examined or collated so impant a m[anu]s[cript] as this."[5]: 35 

Text

The Greek text of the codex is considered a representative of the late Alexandrian text-type, with some Byzantine readings.[3][8] It is one of the most important of all the minuscule manuscripts. It contains many remarkable readings of an early type.[3][8] According to the Claremont Profile Method it represents the Alexandrian text-type in Luke 1, 10 and 20 as a core member.[9] Biblical scholar Kurt Aland placed it in Category II of his New Testament manuscript classification system.[10] Category II manuscripts are described as being manuscripts "of a special quality, i.e., manuscripts with a considerable proportion of the early text, but which are marked by alien influences. These influences are usually of smoother, improved readings, and in later periods by infiltration by the Byzantine text."[10]: 335 

Some notable variants

Matthew 19:16

διδασκαλε (teacher) — 892txt א‎ B D L ƒ1 1010 1365 ℓ 5 ita, d, e, ff1, copbo, eth, geo, Origen, Hilary;
διδασκαλε αγαθε (good teacher) — 892mg C K W Δ Θ ƒ13 28 33 565 700 al Byz Lect it vg sy copsa arm eth Diatessaron.[11]: 74 

Mark 6:33

ἐκεῖ καὶ προῆλθον αὐτούς (there, and came towards them) - 892 א‎ B 0187 ℓ 49 ℓ 69 ℓ 70 ℓ 299 ℓ 303 ℓ 333 ℓ 1579 itaur vg (copsa, bo).[11]: 144 

Mark 10:7

και προσκολληθησεται προς την γυναικα αυτου (and be joined to his wife)
omit - 892 א‎ B Ω ℓ 48 sys goth.[11]: 164 

Luke 4:17

καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ βιβλίον (and opened the book) - 892 A B L W Ξ 33 1195 1241 ℓ 547 sys, h, pal copsa, bo
καὶ ἀναπτύξας τὸ βιβλίον (and unrolled the book) - א‎ Dc K Δ Θ Π Ψ ƒ1 ƒ13 28 565 700 1009 1010 al.[12][13]: 164 

John 1:28

Βηθαραβα (Betharaba) - 892 א‎c2 syh al.[14]

John 6:1

της θαλασσης της Γαλιλαιας εις τα μερη της Τιβεριαδος (the sea of Galilee, into the midst of Tiberius) - 892 D Θ 1009 1230 1253.[11]: 342 

History

The codex was acquired by the British Museum in 1887 from H. L. Dupuis.[8][5] It was studied by Dean Burgon who noted it shared readings with Codex Sinaiticus,[5] later by J. R. Harris. [8]

It is currently located in the British Library (Add. 33277) in London.[1][2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c K. Aland; M. Welte; B. Köster; K. Junack (1994). Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neues Testaments. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 100.
  2. ^ a b "List Handschrifften - Minuscule 892".
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Metzger, Bruce Manning (1991). Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Paleography. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 106.
  4. ^ a b Gregory, Caspar René (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments. Vol. 1. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs. p. 230.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harris, James Rendel (1890). "An Important MS of the New Testament". Journal of Biblical Literature. 9 (1): 31–59. doi:10.2307/4617085. JSTOR 4617085.
  6. ^ See: Western non-interpolations.
  7. ^ von Soden, Hermann (1907). Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt. Vol. 1. Berlin: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht. pp. 973–978.
  8. ^ a b c d Metzger, Bruce Manning; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 90. ISBN 0-19-516667-1.
  9. ^ Wisse, Frederik (1982). The Profile Method for the Classification and Evaluation of Manuscript Evidence, as Applied to the Continuous Greek Text of the Gospel of Luke. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 67. ISBN 0-8028-1918-4.
  10. ^ a b Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
  11. ^ a b c d Aland, Kurt; Black, Matthew; Martini, Carlo Maria; Metzger, Bruce Manning; Wikgren, Allen, eds. (1983). The Greek New Testament (3rd ed.). Stuttgart: United Bible Societies. ISBN 9783438051103. (UBS3)
  12. ^ Metzger, Bruce Manning (2001). A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (2nd ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. p. 114. ISBN 978-3-438-06010-5.
  13. ^ Aland, Kurt; Black, Matthew; Martini, Carlo Maria; Metzger, Bruce M.; Wikgren, Allen, eds. (1981). Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (26 ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelstiftung. ISBN 3-438-051001. (NA26)
  14. ^ http://www.bibletranslation.ws/trans/john.pdf [bare URL PDF]

Further reading

  • Hermann von Soden, Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt, I, II (Berlin, 1907), pp. 973–978.